1. The present invention relates generally to devices for aiding in the removal of dust, odors, and the like from generally enclosed areas such as buildings and rooms and, more particularly, to a method and apparatus which effects such elimination by increasing the negative electric charge in the area.
2. Many types of apparatus have been employed to remove dust, smoke and microscopic or molecular particles causing odors from the air in buildings and the like. Among them are filters, water curtains and electrostatic precipitators which eliminate such particles by passing them through the devices themselves. Other types of apparatus have been used to disperse an ionized gas, such as ozone, which acts directly on organisms, such as microbes and mold spores, at a distance from the apparatus itself. In either case convection air currents must be relied on to either move the air to the cleaning device or to transport the ionized gas particles throughout the area.
A physical phenomenon in the little-known static electricity field is that the earth itself is generally considered to be electrically positive and that small particles generally, and particularly dust, smoke, microscopic particles and organisms in the rooms of buildings also tend to be positive. Therefore, these small particles tend to be repelled by the statically positive floors of rooms and the like resulting from electrostatic induction from the earth. As the mass of such particles is relatively low, the repelling static charge tends to keep the particles floating in the air.
Also, the frictional movement of air through air-conditioing and heating units in a building tends to increase the positive static effect, further enhancing the floating circulation of the small particles.
It has been found that when the generally positive static charge on such particles is neutralized or a slightly negative charge imparted to the particles, the particles are then attracted to the statically positive ground or floor effectively removing them from the circulating air. There has long been a need for a system for imparting negative charges on such particles.